MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection are trying to agree on how to improve EU toy safety legislation in the future, but they are still divided as to the level of ambition.
This was demonstrated by the discussion they had on Wednesday 27 October when they took stock of attempts to reach a compromise on the draft own-initiative report by Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy) on the implementation of the toy safety directive (2009/48/EC).
Hazardous chemical substances. Referring to progress in the technical negotiations, the rapporteur stressed that an agreement on the elimination of hazardous chemical substances still needs to be found.
“We need to be ambitious in addressing the main shortcomings of the current directive, as clearly identified by the European Commission and stakeholders in their evaluation report”, he said.
At the same time, the right wording should be found to emphasise the importance of a solid scientific basis.
Mr Benifei said he was confident that solutions could be found, on the understanding that “everyone should agree on the main objective of ensuring that European legislation guarantees that chemical substances that cause cancer, genetic mutations or affect the reproductive and endocrine system are not present in toys that come into daily contact with the most vulnerable of us: children”.
On other issues such as market surveillance, the use of new technologies (electronic labelling, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence) to detect unsafe products, the rapporteur was pleased that much progress has been made.
“The subject seems very technical, but we must never forget that what is at stake is the health of our children and future generations”, he said.
Bureaucracy? For German MEP Marion Walsmann (EPP), the aim should be to support the European Commission, which must identify the current problems with the directive and propose solutions. “Are we going to increase toy safety or bureaucracy?” she asked. In particular, she mentioned the issue of labelling and databases which are still pending.
In the opinion of her Romanian colleague Vlad-Marius Botoș (Renew Europe), scientific evidence is essential and, if it is there, legislation should be changed accordingly. However, it is important to avoid imposing an unnecessary burden on European producers and to ensure that the same rules apply to all those selling toys in the EU so that Europe can retain innovation, he stressed.
Italian MEP Alexandra Basso (ID), for her part, insisted on the need for greater protection for children with disabilities and for particular vigilance with regard to connected objects that can track children. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)